Beastly

This is another modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast. In Beastly the retelling centers around a high school in New York and pretty boy Kyle, who after a prank on the school weird girl Kendra, who in this modern day story is definitely more goth/emo then witch, but she curses him to be as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Beastly is a movie that I went into not expecting anything out of because from the trailer it seemed almost a teen angst movie, where the characters stew and the plot simply goes nowhere. While Beastly was not great it ended up being decent with some strengths and weaknesses. I think the focus for this movie was toward the tween age group and I am sure they though the movie was just liken them, but the movie could have had more to offer.

The acting for this movie is far from great, but , but they do what one would expect in a tween focused movie. Alex Pettyfor stars as Kyle/Hunter. While the writing for his character is far from deep Pettyfor does the best he can with his abilities, and while he had his weaknesses there is definite room for growth and he could be a star in the future. At the beginning of the movie he plays the arrogance with such a great flair that the audience definitely  views him as someone that needs to be knocked down a peg or two. Then after the curse he plays this brooding, even moping character. I would have liked to have seen his character be more beast/intimidating, while the brooding, mopeyness fits for the tween audience it left somewhat lacking for me. Vanessa Hudgens in the role of Lindy (the Beauty) was really shallow and lacking for what was needed. Hudgens really did not do anything with the role, when she brought almost no emotion to any aspect or interaction with her role. Her reactions to things were just not how one would expect someone to react to them. An example of this is her initial reaction to seeing Hunter for the first time, and seeing his scars and such. In supporting roles I really enjoyed Mary Kate Olsen as Kendra and Neil Patrick Harris as Will, Hunter's tutor. Olsen plays the goth witch role perfectly. We can really feel for her awkwardness and hurt she feels from the prank. As the audience we feel justified for her in placing the curse. Harris in his role provides some great funny moments. Being the blind tutor he plays off the other two main characters to perfection.

Being based off of a novel has intrigued me to read the book to see how well they adapted the book into the movie. The story does come across to me to be similar to the lately popularity of Twilightesque writing geared toward the teenage girl. There were definite ways I would have liked to see different aspects portrayed that would have made the movie stronger. One such thing I mentioned earlier is the deformity, scaring of Hunter's character. While I could see why the popular kid with good looks looking the way he did from the curse would be devastating to a high schooler, I felt they could have taken the curse an additional step or two to make the outside interpretation of how ugly he was on the inside to a feeling of pushing, that Lindy would have felt a little more hesitant around him at first. Another weakness was the romance between Lindy and Hunter. From Hunter's perspective we can see why he falls for her. Yet, from Lindy's side it is like she just gets there without a journey or us even seeing what puts her to that point. While the story did have its weaknesses I did enjoy this modern day telling. I felt they kept the story simply so that the audience did not have to think much about where the story was going, but instead we could just watch and simply see a movie for the enjoyment it is supposed to be.

Beastly was never meant to be a movie that would blow your socks off. Instead it is a movie meant for that teen audience that just wants to see a movie with good looking people. Pettyfor is an upcoming star that I think I will keep my eye on to see how he looks to improve in each movie. While Beastly had its ups and downs I am giving it two and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie where you do not have to think, but instead you can cuddle up with someone while watching. Beastly is a movie that is worth the price of renting for a movie night.

-The Movie Man